What's For Dinner?

Meal planning has become close to nonexistent lately.  Steve used to work loooonnnng hours and after I picked Xavier up from daycare, he needed my attention and care until he went bed.  By the time I put him down, I was raging in hunger and usually just grabbed some ice cream or a bowl of cereal.  So we rarely made dinner on weeknights.  For a while, we made a bunch of casseroles on the weekends to get us through the week.  We also tried a personal chef service which helped a TON.  But, now that Steve just scored a more family-friendly job (way to go, Honey!) he can now go back to cooking dinners for us.  Cooking is something he really enjoys, so we are both excited.  We still try to put together dishes that are quick to make and easy on the budget.  Here's a list of a typical week of dinners for us that work well for our busy, fast-paced routine.

Sunday - Usually Sundays are grocery shopping days for us and we'll throw something in the crock-pot so we'll have some leftovers to get us through a couple lunches for the upcoming week.  Some crock-pot favorites are spaghetti (gotta use the angel hair pasta noodles) and homemade meatballs, chopped up chicken breasts and egg noodles, or pulled pork seasoned with liquid smoke.  These dishes are quick to prep and usually result in lots of leftovers.

Monday - There is a recipe I found on Pinterest where you layer chicken breasts or tenders, a can of green beans, and some cut up new potatoes in a 9x11 pan, add some butter and Italian seasoning, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so.  It is amazing, cost-friendly, and quick to prep!  We mix up the veggie and potatoes we use to keep it interesting.

Tuesday - Taco Tuesday!  If we still have left over meat from Sunday's crock-pot meal, we'll use it for our tacos.  Otherwise, we'll make a fresh batch.  We use pulled pork, turkey meat, or chicken.  Never made them with fried fish fillets, but they're next on the list!

Wednesday - Usually by Wednesday, I'm tired of eating at home and we'll grab some kind of take out and bring it home, whether it be City BBQ, Bob Evans, or Wendy's drive-thru, anything but home cooking!  But, if it's blizzardly cold or gross hot, we'll stay in and have some type of pasta dish or egg salad sandwiches.

Thursday - Grill night.  We fire up the grill and make smoked pork chops, turkey burgers, hot dogs, etc.  We'll cut up some squash and zucchini to put in a foil pack and grill that on low heat.  Add some baked beans and watermelon and summer is complete!

Friday - It's no dinner Friday!  We come home, put on our jammies and make breakfast for dinner!  Sometimes we make an egg, cheese, and sausage casserole or we'll make pancakes in the cast iron skillet.  Hoping we keep this a tradition and Xavier looks forward to these nights as he begins to understand how fun it is to switch up dinner with breakfast foods!

Saturday - Saturday night we usually go out to eat.  And we are talking the early shift, like around 4:30 or 5:00.  If we go any later, Xavier turns into a major fuss-face.  Kid-friendly restaurant favorites are Chick-fil-A, Bob Evans, El Vaquero, and O'Charley's.

Just a quick note on other meals.  Breakfast during the week is usually just cereal for me, coffee for Steve.  On weekends, we will cook something real or go out for brunch.  Lunches during the week usually consist of dinner leftovers, a lunch-meat sandwich or peanut butter & jelly sandwich, baked chips (baked cheetos taste just like the real deal!), Greek yogurt, fruit and some type of sweet, chocolately snack.  Jell-O pudding cups are a great go-to and so are pretzel rods dipped in Nutella.

And I can't sign off without a picture of Your's Truly!

He's messy, but with a smile like that, I'd kiss him anyway!